DUANE
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Duane's take
The way the marker tells it, here's what happened out here in Burnet County. Noah Smithwick built a water mill on this spot in 1855, and that's where the story starts. A settlement grew up around it, the kind of place that earns itself a history whether it means to or not.
Smithwick worked that mill for a few years, then in 1861 he moved to California. But the mill, it kept right on turning. The water didn't care who owned the deed.
Then came A. M. Cox, who erected this very building in 1874.
Two floors. Solid. The kind of structure that makes a man feel like a place is going somewhere.
A store moved into the lower floor, which tells you people were already showing up regular enough to need one. Now, there was a Lodge. The Henry Thomas Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, chartered June the fifteenth, 1865, down at Turkey Bend, Texas.
And it was Minister Henry Thomas himself who picked it up and moved the whole Lodge here in 1876. Moved it right into the upper story of Cox's building. So you had commerce below and brotherhood above, which, if you think about it, is a pretty fair arrangement.
Now here's where the story takes a quiet turn. When Mr. Cox died, he left a will.
And in that will, he gave the Lodge the upper story. Just like that, the Masons had a permanent home by a dead man's generosity. Then in 1952, F.
P. Lewis gave them the lower story too. The whole building, floor to ceiling, belonging to the Lodge at last.
From a water mill in 1855 to a Masonic hall standing whole and complete, one piece at a time, one deed of generosity at a time. That's the kind of story a building earns slow.
What the marker says
In settlement started by Noah Smithwick, when he built water mill here in 1855. In 1861 he moved to California, but the mill continued in operation. A. M. Cox erected this building in 1874. Minister Henry Thomas moved the Lodge (chartered June 15, 1865) from Turkey Bend, Texas to this place in 1876. A store occupied the lower floor. Lodge obtained upper story at death of Mr. Cox, by his will. F. P. Lewis gave lower story in 1952. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967